2. Dog-ductions, part 1
What dog lover hasn't melted
when man's best friend gives
him that baleful look as he
heads off to work? One taxpayer
decided to create his own
tax rule to ease the pain:
"There is one individual
who tried to deduct a day
care expense for their dog,"
says Barghini. "The person
was working and they didn't
feel that the dog should be
left alone, so they hired
somebody to watch the dog,
then tried to take a day care
tax credit for the doggy-sitting.
The dog clearly was an economic
dependent, but not for tax
purposes.

3.
Now THAT'S a super!
Sure, it's easy to find bad things to say about landlords, but what about all the good things they do? Dittrick admits that while she liked the sentiment, she wasn't buying this landlord's story for a minute: "There was a guy who had rental property and tried to deduct a limousine charge in the year he got married by claiming that he had taken his renters out for a night on the town, when I knew that it was for the wedding," she says. "I ended up refusing to sign the return."

4.
At that price, it should change
diapers, too
CPA Ruth Ann Michnay of St.
Paul, Minn., thought she might
have been out of touch with
maternity technology on this
one: "I once had a young
mother as a client who listed
a breast pump at over $300,"
she says.

These days high-quality
breast pumps can cost that
much, but when the event took
place years ago that was an
outlandish price.

"My kids
are grown up but I never remember
them being that expensive,
so my first reaction was that
it must have been some medical
situation with the child.
You never know. But no, it
was strictly for her convenience
to operate. She was claiming
it as a medical expense. I
talked her out of it."

5. Dog-ductions, part 2
You think it's hard to find good help? Tell it to the IRS. Even the CPA source for this one wished to remain anonymous: "A landscaper who was under audit with the IRS had deducted the expense of their dog because he would pull the wagon on landscaping jobs. They felt he was out there helping. He may have been listed as an independent contractor."

6. Me, I'm a freelance food critic
There are those taxpayers
who mistakenly believe that
if their hobbies come anywhere
close to their means of making
a living, what they spend
on it should be deductible
as a business expense. And
perhaps it is -- on Mars!
New York CPA Alan J. Straus
knew of a Hollywood set electrician
who tried to write off the
cost of buying and renting
movie videos and DVDs, and
a professor of Italian culture
and European art who tried
to deduct his theater and
concert tickets.

Then again,
sometimes what appears to
be a flagrantly crazy write-off
on paper will actually turn
out to be permissible. Witness
this unlikely deduction from
Alan Dlugash, a CPA with the
New York firm of Marks
Paneth & Shron LLP:
"A client not only tried
to, but properly did deduct
several thousands of dollars
of comic book purchases. He
was a university doctoral
student, doing his thesis
in his field of expertise
... having to do with the
relationship of comic books
to the societal values of
the era." D'oh!

Advertising Disclosure: Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Bankrate may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website.